Quintus Axius
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Quintus Axius M. f. (or "Quintus Axius, son of Marcus", see
filiation Filiation is the legal term for the recognized legal status of the relationship between family members, or more specifically the legal relationship between parent and child. As described by the Government of Quebec: Filiation is the relationship ...
) was a man of
ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
of the
Axia gens The gens Axia, also spelled Axsia, was a plebs, plebeian family at Ancient Rome, Rome during the final century of the Roman Republic, Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire, Empire. The gens does not appear to have been particularly large ...
who lived in the 1st century BCE. He appears to have been from Reate (modern
Rieti Rieti (; , Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina region. T ...
). He is included in the list of senators in the ''senatus consultum de Amphiarai Oropii agris'', listed as having been ''
quaestor A quaestor ( , ; ; "investigator") was a public official in ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officia ...
'' in either 73 or 74 BCE. He was an intimate friend of the statesman and writer
Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...
and scholar
Marcus Terentius Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...
, the latter of whom inserted him as one of the speakers in the third book of his ''de Re Rustica''. The 2nd-century CE historian
Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...
quotes from one of Cicero's letters to Axius, and the 2nd-century Roman
grammarian Grammarian may refer to: * Alexandrine grammarians, philologists and textual scholars in Hellenistic Alexandria in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE * Biblical grammarians, scholars who study the Bible and the Hebrew language * Grammarian (Greco-Roman ...
Aulus Gellius Aulus Gellius (c. 125after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome. He is famous for his ''Attic Nights'', a commonplace book, ...
speaks of a letter which
Marcus Tullius Tiro Marcus Tullius Tiro (died 4 BC) was first a Roman slave, slave, then a freedman, of Cicero from whom he received his Nomen gentilicium, nomen and praenomen. He is frequently mentioned in Cicero's letters. After Cicero's death Tiro published h ...
, the
freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...
of Cicero, wrote to Axius criticizing a speech of
Cato the Elder Marcus Porcius Cato (, ; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor (), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, Roman Senate, senator, and Roman historiography, historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He wa ...
's, ''On Behalf of the Rhodians''. Axius was a wealthy landowner, and accustomed to lend money, if at least the Axius to whom Cicero talked of applying in 61 BCE, is the same as the above. In 49 BCE, however, we find that Axius was in Cicero's debt.
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
tells an anecdote of Axius paying the astronomical sum of 400,000 ''
sestertii The ''sestertius'' (: ''sestertii'') or sesterce (: sesterces) was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The name ''sester ...
'' for a high-quality
donkey The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...
. His farm estate, the Roman villa of Quintus Axius, still stands today.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axius, Quintus 1st-century BC Romans Ancient landowners Roman quaestors Axii